The Endings of Galactic Conquest, Expanded
by AzureSpider
Summary: Remember the original Star Wars Battlefront II? And how each faction had it's own ending upon winning Galactic Conquest? Well these are a collection of one-shots that follow up on and expand upon each of those alternate Star Wars timelines. Since the Rebellion winning is the "canon" one, I won't be doing one for that one. There will be ones for CIS, Republic, and Imperial victory.
1. Confederate Uprising

_A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away..._

 _Utapauns cowered as scores of Droids swarmed the streets of their once peaceful cities..._

 _On Geonosis those winged alien's factories remained standing, churning out new droids all the time. And on some other, distant world, a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter of great renown went about business as usual, flamethrower unleashing a punishing stream on his latest quarry._

 _Magnaguards and Destroyer Droids flooded the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, blasting structure and sentient alike to pieces without mercy as at last the old Order was swept away in a sea of mechanized murder._

 _On Tatooine, a forsaken but still living Zabrak Sith Lord prepared his next move._

 _On Coruscant, a greater Sith Lord mused over how he had won, if in a manner different from what he had originally intended._

 _On Mustafar, yet a third Sith Lord cut down the greatest threat to his continued prosperity and status in a merciless storm of Force Lightning._

The Separatists had conquered the Galaxy.

 _Utapau_

General Grievous stood stiffly at attention staring at nothing in particular from his place in the Utapaun hangar. Since the end of the Clone Wars, the place had become his new official base of operations. Why not? It was here that he had cut down one of the few Jedi who could have possibly hoped to challenge him. With Obi-Wan Kenobi's death, General Grievous had to admit to feeling a good deal safer.

A Battle Droid Officer walked up to him and gave him a report: "General, all of the natives have been accounted for. Our armies have rooted out the last hiding places and spots of resistance on the planet."

General Grievous nodded his understanding. This sort of micromanagement bored him. But, now that victory had been assured, there wasn't much left to do besides it.

Oddly, that made him sad. Or, as close to sad as he could now feel in his present cyborg state.

"What should we do with them, General?" The Battle Droid officer asked. "Process them? Liquefy them?"

General Grievous shook his head. "No. Keep them contained for now. Lords Tyranus and Sidious will figure out what to do with them at a later date."

The Battle Droid Officer saluted and walked off to give these orders. General Grievous for his part examined the new lightsaber in his collection that he was positive would become his new favorite, if it wasn't already. He activated it's summer sky colored blade, and examined it as he would a rare specimen in a zoo. To think that had things gone differently, this very lightsaber could have been his death instead of his prize.

General Grievous gave it a few good swings and thrusts to test it out as he thought to Lords Sidious and Tyranus; he'd have expected them to be elated that they'd won the war and crushed the decadent Republic and Jedi Order at long last. And yet instead, they'd been unusually quiet. Silent, even. They hadn't given him any new orders ever since it was announced that the war was over and the Separatists were triumphant. Were he the type given to concern and worry, General Grievous would be nervous right about then. But instead he was merely perplexed and curious. What were they up to?

General Grievous shrugged. So long as they didn't try to cast _him_ aside, he could live with their strange period of inaction. And he was sure he could find ways to keep himself amused in the meantime. The war might be over, but many Jedi rats hadn't gone down with their ship. His role as a hunter and slaughterer of Jedi would continue for some time more...

 _Coruscant_

Palpatine wasn't happy.

Not that true, genuine joy was something he had the capacity for in any case, but even the kind of sadistic, chest-puffing sense of accomplishment that he _did_ feel when he won was being denied to him right at the moment.

And that was because, even though Darth Sidious had won, nothing, and he meant _nothing_ had gone according to plan.

 _This wasn't how it was supposed to be._ Darth Sidious fumed silently as he sat in what had once been the Jedi High Council chamber, tainting it's one pure presence with his darkness and perverting the very ground he stood on with cold contempt. _No, this wasn't how it was supposed to go at all._

Ever since Darth Maul had _not_ met his defeat at Obi-Wan Kenobi's hands as Sidious had foreseen some thirteen standard years ago, things had just not followed his meticulous, grand design; the Clone Wars had still happened of course, but the Clone Army the Kaminoans had made for him proved horribly inadequate to beat back the droid armies, even with the Jedi reinforcing them. Sidious wasn't sure if the Droid Army had just been made better and more powerful than he'd anticipated, or if the Clone Army had just fallen far short of the Kaminoan's and their progenitor Jango Fett's lofty expectations, but either way they hadn't been able to keep back the Separatist onslaught on the Galaxy like Sidious had been counting on. Sidious had been so frustrated in fact that he'd discreetly ordered the Mandalorian's death just to take his anger out on someone, but Jango Fett had evaded those attempts and was still at large somewhere in the greater galaxy, along with that son of his...

 _A pity no Jedi ever took his head off during the war._ Sidious thought bitterly. As for the aforementioned Kenobi, his duel with Darth Maul had left him with both of his legs severed, though his connection to the Force had been strong enough that he'd kept himself just barely alive long enough for help to arrive. Forever after, Kenobi had been saddled with mechanical legs just as his one-time apprentice would later get a mechanical arm. Limb loss seemed to run in the line.

 _Well, at least Grievous killed Kenobi, or so I've been told._ Palpatine thought. Of course, _that_ hadn't been part of the plan either, but Sidious couldn't claim at all to mind that one of the greatest members of the obsolete Jedi Order, those most hated enemies of his, was now out of the way. And it's not as though Sidious would have let him live had things gone as they were meant to.

But nowhere was the course of events that had unfolded more frustrating and disappointing to Darth Sidious then the situation with his apprentices; the mere fact that there were now three Sith at a time in flagrant violation of the Rule of Two was unacceptable enough, but Tyranus had ended up doing what Sidious had neither expected nor wanted; he had killed Anakin Skywalker.

 ** _Skywalker_** _was the one I wanted._ Sidious fumed. _Skywalker had the power, the potential, and the darkness inside him. I could have molded him into the greatest Sith Lord and killer of Jedi to ever live...besides myself, of course._

But, that ship had left the hangar now. Anakin Skywalker was dead, and Sidious was stuck with Darth Tyranus, who was powerful and skilled to be sure, not to mention having the charisma and reputation for integrity that Darth Maul had sadly lacked, but even so he wasn't as ideal. Especially when, in fact, he was even older than Sidious himself. Even if Sidious never realized his goal of immortality, there would be no doubt that he'd outlive Tyranus. And after Sidious had..."released" Darth Maul from his service, he knew that he could not count on the Zabrak to come back to him either. He would need to find someone else to set up as his third apprentice in lieu of the late Anakin Skywalker.

 _Perhaps..._ Sidious considered. _...Skywalker's children?_

Because Sidious had been aware of Anakin Skywalker's secret marriage to Padme Amidala of Naboo. He had been aware too that she had since become pregnant. With twins, if he was not mistaken. He had actually intended to keep her in his custody, but she seemed to have escaped Coruscant before Separatist droid forces had seized the planet completely and set up a blockade so as to keep the world under perpetual quarantine.

 _Yes..._ The more Sidious thought about it, the more the idea appealed to him. Any children of Anakin Skywalker would have almost assuredly inherited at least some of his power if not all of it. And being as they were only infants, he could do with them as he had done with Darth Maul; turn them into perfect living weapons from day one, and mold them into the ultimate Sith Apprentices. Well, _one_ of them anyway. After all, the Rule of Two still needed to apply. Not only did he fully intend to get rid of Darth Tyranus if he meant he got a child of Skywalker's in exchange, but the final "test" for the two children would be to fight to the death, the winner becoming his right-hand enforcer. The act of slaying their own twin sibling simply because he had ordered them to and because love was not the way of the Sith, would be the final thing that would forever cement the surviving Skywalker's position as an agent of evil. An agent of the Dark Side. An agent of _him._

Sidious smiled. Yes...perhaps some of the sloppiness and unfortunate outcomes of his messy victory could be salvaged after all. In the meanwhile though, he'd have to content himself with being Emperor of a Galaxy that feared him as the conqueror, rather than embraced him as the false savior, as he had wanted.

 _I suppose..._ Sidious thought wistfully. _...it shall have to suffice for now._

 _Tatooine_

Amid the crowded, noisy, and ever-active interior of a lonely cantina, Darth Maul sat in contemplative meditation.

He had sensed the dramatic turn of events in the Galaxy recently; the Dark Side now consumed it, standing triumphant over the Light Side now that it's prime defenders had been pounded so fiercely they'd been reduced to ruin. Maul had savored the Jedi deaths that he'd felt in the Force, but was also just a _little_ miffed that he hadn't been the one to send them into the Force's embrace himself.

 _No matter._ Darth Maul thought. _The Sith's greatest enemies are at last gone. Gone or in hiding. Now all that remains is my own revenge._

Darth Maul had spent some time on Tatooine now. He'd been hopping from planet to planet throughout the Galaxy for years ever since Sidious had tossed him aside like a broken blade. A betrayal Maul should, in hindsight, perhaps have seen coming. Treachery was, after all, the way of the Sith. All the same, Maul had thought that years of loyal, unquestioning service might have entitled him to something more than being disposed of so readily.

Apparently, he was wrong.

Tatooine was Darth Maul's current hiding place. He'd been evading his former master's agents as well as Droids and Clones for years now, and every attempt to kill him had failed. Maul took some grim satisfaction in that; how Sidious had trained him to be an assassin so well that now he could not readily be assassinated himself.

Of course, he _had_ kept Darth Maul running, for which the Sith Lord was none-too-appreciative. He'd killed so many assassins, hitmen, and Clone Troopers sent after him that he'd lost count, and just as many Separatist Droids too. On Tatooine though, the population was so diverse, and the inhabitants so listless and disinclined to pay attention to the comings and goings of most, that in conjunction with the planet being so far out of the way, Darth Maul at last had found a place he could lie low on with less fear of being attacked again. That his command of the Force was such that he could effectively mask his presence and become effectively invisible to the inhabitants of Mos Eisley helped as well.

"Your second round, sir." Came a Bith bartender who handed Maul his glass of liquid. From the Bith's altered perceptions, he saw Darth Maul as an unassuming Moisture Farmer, rather than the Sith Lord he truly was. Everyone else in the Cantina did too for that matter, and that was just how Darth Maul intended to keep it. If Treachery was the way of the Sith, so too was deception.

Darth Maul took the glass and drank, as he did continuing to reflect on the recent turn of events in the Galaxy; he was not content with merely hiding forever like a coward; he desired revenge on Sidious for casting him aside, and his own piece of the power the newly christened Emperor now wielded. Of course, any kind of direct attack was a fool's errand; Maul knew that he could grow in power for decades and _still_ never come close to matching his master; the Dark Side of the Force was simply not as strong within him as it was within Sidious. And in any event, one Sith was pointless anyhow. As Sidious himself had told him many a time, a Master without an Apprentice was a master of nothing.

So the course was clear; Darth Maul would need a Sith Apprentice of his own, and not just _any_ Sith Apprentice, but one who could, with time and training, become more powerful than Sidious himself.

Darth Maul allowed himself just the tiniest of smiles. An Apprentice, yes...but who?

Maul considered; he had sensed how strong the Force was in the boy from the very planet he was on now. He had suspected that Sidious had had an interest in him (part of why he looked back on the betrayal he had suffered as not so surprising after all). But that boy had gone on to become a Jedi hero who's life had been ended along with the rest of the Order, robbing Maul of the chance to corrupt him.

Darth Maul frowned. The answer was out there somewhere; the apprentice he was looking for would reveal themselves to him and his Force senses in time, he was sure of it. And when they did, Darth Maul would get out of them a Sith Apprentice powerful enough to lay low his own treacherous master...

Elsewhere on Tatooine, a brown cloaked figure shuffled about with little purpose. The joints of his mechanical legs groaned in protest, old machinery that they were. He probably ought to have them upgraded or replaced with newer, better models, but money was not something a Jedi had in abundance. Least of all now.

He sat down at last, and watched without interest those who passed by; humans, aliens, droids, and beasts of all types went by without paying him any heed at all, but that was just how the broken Jedi preferred it.

He instinctively reached for his face, before pulling his hands away, the sensation of the cold duranium of one hand touching the now horribly scarred face filling him with an overpowering revulsion. Scars from lightsaber blades and from the fall.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had lost everything; his master, his apprentice. His lightsaber, the Order he'd served using it for so long. Even his legs, forearm, and face had been ruined by the lightsaber blades of his enemies.

Obi-Wan sighed. How had it all gone so wrong? How had all the peace and order in the Galaxy been so thoroughly destroyed? He shook his head. The Jedi and their new Clone Army had fought to preserve the Republic, but they had failed. And now Obi-Wan Kenobi, though still alive, found himself almost wishing that he wasn't.

He knew not how many other Jedi had survived or escaped, but he knew it was too few. There had not been enough Jedi to protect the Republic without the Clone Army, and now after both had been routed there would certainly not be enough to liberate the Galaxy from the Separatist Alliance.

 _At least Master Qui-Gon did not live to see this dark day._ Obi-Wan thought solemnly.

However, as Obi-Wan Kenobi thought this, he realized that he sensed something; a light in the Force that was familiar to him. Very familiar, and _very_ strong...Anakin's?

Obi-Wan shook his head. No, that wasn't possible. He'd sensed Anakin's death in the Force. But _what_ then? Because it w _as_ a similar signature to Anakin's. Similar, only different...it felt in some ways even brighter than Anakin's, untainted by pain and loss. Almost like the innocence of...

Obi-Wan's good eye widened in surprise. No...it couldn't be...could it?

 _Anakin had... **offspring?**_

 _Dagobah_

"So sure of this course of action, are you?" The venerable Jedi Master Yoda asked with a raised eyebrow.

Padme Amidala nodded. "I am, Master Yoda. Bail will raise Leia as a Senator in the new Empire so that she can do good in the same spheres _I_ used to do good in. But I'm not a fool; I know that if the Sith are to be overthrown, it must be by a Jedi. The Jedi Order _can't_ die with you, Master Yoda. And I cannot return to either Coruscant or Naboo because I'm too well known. Nute Gunray alone would have me killed the moment he saw me, or else slowly tortured to death. So I think it's best for Luke and myself to remain here with you."

Yoda considered this. "Hmmm...like it, I do not. Grow up on Dagobah, cut off from the Galaxy, a child should not be."

"That's why I would stay." Padme pointed out. "You'll be Luke's Master, I'll remain his mother. You'll teach him the ways of the Jedi, I'll be the one to teach him everything else."

"Hmmm... _still_ do not like it, I do." Yoda said, thumping his gimer stick for emphasis as he did. "Grow up attached to you, your son will. _Not_ the Jedi way, attachments are."

"Perhaps that should change." Padme said, giving no ground. "I'm not abandoning my son, and you said it yourself, he needs to learn about the Galaxy beyond Dagobah, not just the ways of the Jedi. I'm sorry, Master Yoda, but I think this is the best way, even if neither of us is completely happy with it."

Yoda considered that for a long time. But, at long last he said: "Argue passionately, you do." The several centuries-year old alien gave a nod. "And see no better alternative I do." He nodded again. "Very well. Train your son in the ways of the Jedi, I shall...and remain here with him as the boy's mother, you may."

Padme smiled and hugged Yoda tightly. "Oh, thank you, Master Yoda! Thank you!"

But she could see that Yoda was unhappy, his expression crestfallen and the look in his eyes one of near despair. Padme knew why; she was feeling that same deep unhappiness herself.

"I'm so sorry..."

"As am I." Yoda said. "Heavy on my heart, recent events are. Fear greatly for the future, I do." Yoda shook his head before looking up at Padme and smiling. "But faith in your son, I have. Capable of overthrowing the Emperor with proper training, he is."

"Let's hope so, Master Yoda. For everyone's sake, let's hope so..."

 _Coruscant_

"You wished to see me, my master?"

"Yes indeed. Come stand by me, Lord Tyranus."

Darth Tyranus, formerly Count Dooku of Serenno, did so. Ever since killing Skywalker on Mustafar he'd had just a bit more a spring in his step, though he could tell even as he approached that his master was not pleased.

"We've done it, my Master." He said, trying to remind him of their victory in a desperate attempt to brighten Sidious' mood. "We have brought down the Republic and the Jedi Order. I admit it feels...well, quite satisfying, I must say."

"It did not come about as I had planned." Darth Sidious noted, and Tyranus could indeed sense the deep dissatisfaction in his voice. "We were supposed to end this war appearing the _saviors_ of the Galaxy, Tyranus. _Not_ the conquerors. The nature of our victory will inspire rebellion throughout the Galaxy."

Tyranus though merely scoffed in the face of this. _"Please._ Our Droid Army defeated the Clone Army and the Jedi too. They exceeded our expectations of them. I have every confidence they can handle whatever meager insurgents rise to challenge us. In fact, Master, if I may be so bold, I think that that could actually benefit us; having to crush a minor insurrection every now and again will keep us sharp and our new Empire feared."

But Darth Sidious was unconvinced. "The seemingly weak enemy has a way of surprising you, Lord Tyranus. _Especially_ if they think they have nothing left to lose." He shook his head. "And not _all_ of the Jedi perished, did they? I sense that some survived."

"If you are referring to Master Windu, I have the _entire_ Separatist army and navy looking for him, and have had a bounty placed on his head for good measure. I may even have Grievous go on the hunt personally. I'm sure he'll love getting the chance to have a rematch with him, _and_ the opportunity to add Mace's distinct amethyst lightsaber to his collection."

"See to it that you do." Sidious said simply. Tyranus could still sense the annoyance in his master however, Sidious making no attempt to conceal it. Guessing what it was about, and that it was likely the real reason Sidious had summoned him in the first place, Tyranus said: "You still disapprove of my killing Skywalker."

"He could have been a great asset. _Would_ have been a great asset. The boy could have become the most powerful Force user to ever live, even more than Master Yoda or myself."

"Which..." Tyranus said as slowly and diplomatically as he could. "...is why it might have been just as well that I killed him when I did. He could have been a threat to us otherwise."

Darth Sidious scoffed in the face of this, and Tyranus could practically smell the contempt that oozed out of every one of his master's words. "Don't be a fool. I spent years winning his trust. Getting him to believe in me, to _hang on my every word._ I could have controlled him, even as he grew in power, I'm sure of it."

Tyranus didn't argue. He personally didn't agree, thinking that his master might be overestimating himself, or else just underestimating Skywalker (perhaps both), but he knew better than to utter a word. His master had killed people for less. So instead Darth Tyranus went the diplomatic route. "I am...sorry, master. I should have defeated Skywalker _without_ killing him, then allow you to finish corrupting him."

"Yes, you should have." Darth Sidious said, and Tyranus nearly shivered at the icy venom in his master's voice. "You _failed_ me, Lord Tyranus. I do not forgive failure."

"I know, Master..."

"Count yourself fortunate then, that I still have a use for you. You will eliminate Master Windu either personally or through Grievous, and you will root out and eliminate whatever Jedi may have survived, along with the ever-elusive Maul. You will _also_ manage much of the Empire's day-to-day functions, including the new Imperial Senate." He waved a hand dismissively. "That will be all, Lord Tyranus. I shall summon you again when I have further use for you."

Darth Tyranus nodded and took his leave, all the while silently considering his prospects; his master hadn't even tried to be subtle with making it clear just how precarious his position now was. Tyranus had his uses as Sidious had noted, but he was no fool; other people could do the tasks Sidious had assigned to him, and he now had no doubt that Sidious would brush him aside the moment he could find adequate replacements. He was already seeing that pompous Tarkin character who had sold out Republic positions when it became clear that the Separatists would win the war.

Darth Tyranus shook his head. Not so. He would not take it lying down. If Sidious planned to throw him to the Nexu, he'd start taking measures of his own. The battle-lines had been drawn, and Tyranus was determined to either emerge the winner, or die a defiant loser.

And he knew _just_ who to contact in preparation...

 _Rhen Var_

A blaster shot later, and Jango Fett's latest target was down. As he flew in on his jetpack to intercept said target and get his body ready for transport back to his client, he found the way back blocked by a raging blizzard. Jango Fett stood still and frowned behind his helmet. It wasn't natural. He could tell by the way the winds and snow were moving. Someone was telekinetically affecting it. And he thought he knew who.

"Wasn't ever expecting to hear from you again after Geronosis." Jango Fett said as the raging, frozen winds parted temporarily to reveal the form of Count Dooku, as expected.

"Truth be told I hadn't ever counted on recruiting you again." Darth Tyranus admitted. "But circumstances have changed. I have need of your services once again, Jango."

Jango Fett scoffed. "If this for another clone army..."

"Do hear me out before you say no." Darth Tyranus said simply before continuing: "Now then...as I was saying, my circumstances in life have recently changed. I've...shall we say, fallen out of favor with my master. And I wish to take steps to protect myself from his eventual wrath."

"How do you expect _me_ to help you with that?"

"Because I can sense the unrest and unhappiness among the Galaxy's population; when one tries to take freedom away by force, those in danger of losing it resist. They fight back. Rebellions are being formed, Fett. Rebellions that I want you to aid in the creation and training of and that I will secretly finance, support, and manipulate. Simply put, the Rebellions that will rise to fight my master's Empire will serve as my Dejarek pawns now as the Separatists did until very recently. And I intend to bring additional allies into this as well. But I want your assistance in this."

"And what's to stop me from just blowing the whistle on you to your 'master' after I leave?" Jango Fett asked with a raised eyebrow. "I could say yes now only to turn around and sell you out."

Darth Tyranus made a dramatic show of suppressing a yawn. "Spare me your hollow attempts at treacherous pragmatism. Such an act would be quite unbecoming of a man of your honor and integrity, Fett. I know you won't betray me if you give me your word."

"Then I could always just say 'no' now."

"Yes, and then I would have to kill you, which I'd rather not do, as I respect you immensely. You're one of the few sentients in this Galaxy who I find even remotely interesting, Fett."

"Thanks for the flattery." Jango said, even though he didn't sound very happy about it. But nevertheless, he said: "I'll think about it."

"That's all I ask for now." Darth Tyranus said with a smile. "But I think in time you'll come to see things my way..."

 _Bespin_

It had taken him a few years after that fateful meeting with Jango Fett on Rhen Var, but Darth Tyranus had managed to finally locate Darth Maul as well. And now that he'd convinced the forsaken Sith Lord that he did not, in fact mean to deliver his head to Sidious, the two were now together in Cloud City on Bespin. A sufficiently remote part of the Galaxy that Sidious' new Empire hadn't discovered it...yet.

"You are certain this plan will work?" Darth Maul asked.

"Nothing is certain these days, my friend." Darth Tyranus said. "But I do think that with Jango Fett now assisting us and my wealth secretly financing them, the new Rebellion that has been formed by Senators Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and Garm Bel Iblis has a chance of succeeding. If nothing else, they'll keep Sidious busy while we continue our search to find a worthy Apprentice."

"And what happens when we do?" Darth Maul asked with a raised eyebrow. "You know as well as I do that there can only be _two._ "

"I think we're already past the point of breaking the rule, my friend." Darth Tyranus said, before adding quickly: "I am aware that sharing power is not in either of our natures. I am aware also that a day will come when we will face each-other for the right to carry on the legacy. But in the meantime though, we need each-other. So I advise that we maintain our alliance for the time being."

"Hmm...very well." Darth Maul said, though Tyranus could tell that Maul still didn't like the arrangement. Tyranus couldn't actually blame him though, because neither did he. But, compromises had to be made if they wanted any chance of succeeding against Sidious. Especially when Tyranus remained unsure of what said General Grievous would ultimately take, and was sufficiently against testing it that he hadn't yet let Grievous in on his plot.

"This had better work." Darth Maul hissed, to which Darth Tyranus shrugged. "Suppose it doesn't; wouldn't you still rather die fighting like a true Sith than alone and in hiding?"

"True enough." Darth Maul conceded with a nod. "But all the same, I'd rather emerge victorious in this."

"As would we all. Hence our alliance."

Darth Maul nodded silently in agreement. They both knew that a proper apprentice was still key to their victory; the Rebellion they and Jango Fett pulled the strings of could distract and vex the Empire as much as they could, but Palpatine himself was a dark colossus not so easily laid low. Even together Tyranus and Maul did not have what it took. They would need a third player, one who had the power they could only dream of.

Little did they know that such a worthy candidate was out there, training for the very purpose of overthrowing Darth Sidious. But not for the sake of Tyranus and Maul.

 _Dagobah, years later_

Yoda and Obi-Wan both nodded approvingly as the ten-year old Luke managed to telekinetically lift up all of the rocks and other objects placed in front of him. _All_ of them. Clearly, the boy had indeed inherited his father's exceptional talent.

"Well done, Luke." Obi-Wan had said. Thanks to Padme's remaining connections, Obi-Wan had managed to finally get newer, better mechanical legs and arm, and they felt as nice as they looked, helping to soften somewhat the blow of missing all but one of his original limbs. He was still blind in one eye though from the lightsaber scar on his face, and he had declined a cybernetic prosthetic. " _Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them_." Was what he was always telling Luke after all.

"Thank you, Master Obi-Wan." Luke said with a smile.

"Remember always..." Yoda said. "...a Jedi's strength _flows_ from the Force."

Luke nodded. "Yes master. And I also remember to always beware of the Dark Side."

Yoda nodded approvingly at this, and then Padme's voice called out: "Luke! Luke! It's time to eat!"

"Coming, mother." Luke said before bowing respectfully to his two masters and running off to go be with his mother for dinner. As Obi-Wan and Yoda watched him go, Obi-Wan said: "And to think we've always discouraged Jedi from remaining attached to their families. But it doesn't seem to have hindered Luke at all."

"Convinced it proves the old traditions wrong, I am not." Yoda said, shaking his head. "Not how I would have preferred to train the boy, this is."

"All due respect, Master Yoda, I'm afraid we are no longer in a position to be choosy."

"True." Yoda replied, shaking his head as he did. "Sense it, do you?"

Obi-Wan nodded. "I do, Master Yoda."

"Actively hunting for the offspring of Anakin Skywalker, the Sith are. The Emperor, yes. But also his two forsaken apprentices; Maul and Dooku."

"I know, Master. But so long as we remain hidden here, Dooku will probably be dead before he has a chance to corrupt Luke."

"Perhaps, but remain, Maul and Sidious would. Still in danger, Skywalker would be."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "That boy is still our last, best hope of stopping the Sith."

"No..." Yoda said. "...there is another..."

 _Bespin_

"What is it, Dooku?" Darth Maul asked as he stepped into the room where the now quite elderly Count was waiting for him. He didn't like being called away from his affairs; the Rebellion he and Tyranus had been discreetly supporting for years now had been coming along nicely, but Maul didn't like the thought of leaving it alone for any serious length of time. So for the old Count's sake, the news he had for Maul had best be good.

Tyranus slowly turned to regard Maul: "I did."

"What is it?"

"I've found him. At long last, I've found the Apprentice we've been searching for."

This got Darth Maul's attention immediately. "Really? Where is he?"

"Dagobah. With my old Master."

Darth Maul raised an eyebrow at this. "Dagobah?"

Darth Tyranus nodded. "Yes. It took me years, but my connection to my old master's not entirely lost even now; he is on Dagobah, I am certain of it. He must have retreated there after the fall of the Jedi Order. And that is where the apprentice we've been searching for is. Being trained by him to keep the Jedi Order on the brink of death, no doubt."

Darth Maul considered this, as he did looking at Darth Tyranus; the passage of ten standard years did not show in Tyranus terribly visibly, but Maul could sense how weak he was becoming with the passage of time. How weak he _had_ become, actually. Though the Force extended the lifespan of a sentient to a point, it did not keep back death indefinitely, and Force or no Force, Tyranus did not have much longer to live...or did he?

Suddenly, Maul was less sure. He could see Tyranus pace nervously, as if worried about something. Maul realized that Tyranus seemed to be sensing danger.

"We...should go to Dagobah personally. Together, I think. My old master is even more ancient now than before. I can sense that age and the triumph of the Dark Side these many years have both taken a toll on him. Together, we should be able to overcome him."

There it was. It was as Tyranus said this with far less conviction than he ought to that Darth Maul perceived the danger Tyranus had sensed: his death. His death at Maul's hands.

Deciding to bide his time though, Darth Maul nodded and said: "Very well. We'll go to Dagobah...together."

 _Dagobah_

Yoda nodded approvingly as Luke pulled off the Ataru moves he had taught him flawlessly; not a stroke, leap, or kick out of place.

"Well done, Skywalker. Proud of you I am."

Luke smiled as the green blade of his lightsaber shrank away. "Thanks, Master Yoda. I'm glad I've been doing well."

Yoda's own smile faded for a moment as he sensed a dark presence coming to the planet rapidly. He didn't need to think long to know who or what it was.

He also knew that Luke ought not to be anywhere close when it came.

"Go to your mother you should." Yoda suggested. "Missing you, she will be. Spend time with her, you should."

Luke nodded. "Alright, Master Yoda." He said, before running in the direction of the hut he shared with Padme. Yoda smiled sadly as he watched the boy go before sitting down up against a tree and waiting for his foes to come.

They came some hours later, when night had fallen on Dagobah once more.

"Maul. Dooku. Expected you both, I have."

Crimson blades shot out of Darth Maul's long ago rebuilt double-bladed lightsaber. A similar fountain of blood colored light spat out of Darth Tyranus' curved hilt.

"We have come for the boy." Darth Tyranus said simply.

"Allow you to leave with him, we will not." Yoda said simply.

"We?" Darth Tyranus asked with a raised eyebrow.

Behind the two Sith, the sound of a lightsaber blade sprang to life. Maul and Tyranus whipped around to see Obi-Wan standing there, hood of his brown robe pulled down to reveal an aging face, and his new green lightsaber held out at the ready in his typical Soresu stance.

"Leave now." Obi-Wan said with grave finality. "You will be given no additional warnings."

Tyranus scoffed. "If our prior history in lightsaber duels is anything to go by, I hardly think I shall need any." Tyranus gave Obi-Wan the usual Makashi salute. "And considering what happened to your legs, I doubt you could take Maul here either." He turned to Darth Maul: "Deal with Kenobi. I shall handle my old master. I sense that he is weaker than ever now."

Darth Maul nodded and moved in to engage Obi-Wan. Tyranus went in the opposite direction, right after Yoda. But before he could bring his red lightsaber down on Yoda, the old Jedi Master raised his hand, and there was a blinding flash of light.

When Tyranus opened his eyes, he was back on Geonosis, surrounded by the bodies of Clone Troopers and Geonosians from the first battle of the Clone Wars. "You took this into my mind." Darth Tyranus noted. "Clever, Master Yoda." He turned to see that Yoda was still there and went at him. "But not clever enough!"

Back in the physical world, Darth Maul and Obi-Wan locked lightsaber blades for the first time since Naboo over twenty standard years ago. But in that time, Obi-Wan's skills, though having deteriorated from what they'd been during the end of the Clone Wars, were still formidable. He expertly blocked every strike Darth Maul sent at him, and replied in kind with perfectly timed blows that Maul barely deflected every time. Loathe as he was to admit it, Kenobi would not be as easy a kill as he'd hoped, and Darth Maul knew that Obi-Wan could easily kill him if his attentions were diverted for even a moment.

Meanwhile, on the astral plane, Tyranus found his kill strike aimed at Yoda blocked by a familiar amethyst blade.

"Ah. Master Windu. Or rather, a phantasm of him."

"Phantasm perhaps, but your own phantasm of him he is." Yoda said. "Still hurt you, he can."

And as if to prove it, the vision of Mace Windu swung his amethyst blade at Darth Tyranus. He managed to deliver a glancing blow that cut part of Tyranus' sleeve and damage his armor-weave cloak. Scoffing with contempt, Tyranus struck sideways at the apparition and hit it, causing it to disperse.

"A Sith Lord's life is pain. Ghosts of past Jedi will not deter me."

"Always a Sith Lord, you were not." Yoda countered, unfazed as now a ghostly manifestation of Ki-Adi Mundi appeared and traded blows with Darth Tyranus. Tyranus cut him down too, but not before he delivered a strike to the leg that, had this not been a vision would have severed the limb. "Once my Apprentice, you were. A great Jedi Master, you once were."

"A long time gone, Master Yoda." Darth Tyranus said simply before going at him again. A green lightsaber slamming into his back in such a way that it should have cut both his armor-weave cloak and himself in half got his attention, and Tyranus whipped around to strike at none other than an apparition of his old apprentice, Qui-Gon Jinn.

"A shabby trick, dragging Qui-Gon into this."

"Still miss him even now, you do." Yoda said. "Sense it, I can."

The apparition of Qui-Gon hit Tyranus again, but Tyranus retaliated with a slash that would have decapitated Qui-Gon if he'd been real. "Qui-Gon couldn't see that the Jedi Order's time had come." Darth Tyranus said simply. "But _I_ saw it. Darth Sidious showed me the truth."

"And then betrayed you, he did. Cast you aside as a failure, he did. Alone now, you are."

"Once I take your apprentice as my own, that will cease to be the case." Darth Tyranus said, before at last delivering a crimson slash that, this time, was not parried by any more Jedi specters.

The fatal strike delivered to Yoda shattered the illusion Tyranus had been trapped in and returned him to the reality of Dagobah. As Yoda's body crumpled to the floor, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul ceased in their up-to-that-point even duel to see it.

"NO!" Obi-Wan shouted, a moment of distraction that allowed Darth Maul to sever Obi-Wan's last flesh-and-blood limb and then blast his body away with a blast of crimson lightning from his black gloved hand that caused him to hit a tree so hard it would have shattered a normal human's spine. With Obi-Wan subdued, Darth Maul walked over to stand by Darth Tyranus.

"It is over..." Tyranus noted, but he didn't get to finish his thought, because it was then that Maul drove one of the crimson blades of his double-saber into Tyranus' back, burning a hole in both his armor-weave cape and his torso. Darth Maul twisted a few times for good measure before pulling the blade out. He watched Tyranus' body fall without a drop of pity. His successful, literal backstab had been proof enough of what Maul had already suspected, namely that Tyranus had grown old, decrepit, sluggish, and worst of all, expendable. Otherwise he'd have been able to sense when and where Maul intended to betray him, and then Maul would be the one lying dead on the ground.

But that was neither here nor there.

"We both knew it would come to this." Darth Maul said to Darth Tyranus' body. "We both knew from the moment we made our alliance that only one of us could be the boy's master. _Always_ two there are, of course. A master to embody the power..." Darth Maul looked out in the direction where he sensed the boy and his mother.

"...and an apprentice, to crave it."

A short trip later, and Darth Maul was at the hut where his future apprentice lay. He effortlessly ripped the door off with telekinesis, hurling it away. A blaster bolt fired out of the doorway greeted him, but Maul deflected it without an issue.

"Stay away from my son!" Padme roared, opening fire again. Again, Maul deflected the shot before casually disarming Padme of her blaster with another flick of his wrist.

"I remember you from Naboo..." Darth Maul noted before advancing. "Where is the boy?"

Maul got his answer when a green blade tried to run him through from behind. Darth Maul spun about and swatted the green lightsaber out of it's owner's small hands.

The boy had nearly gotten him. Maul should have been furious, but instead he was perversely elated. Already the child was proving himself exactly the sort of apprentice Maul needed to get his revenge on Sidious and take what had long been denied him...

He nearly didn't react to the shot from Padme's hold-out blaster before disarming her of that too.

"Wait! Stop! Don't hurt my mother!" Luke cried, holding out his hands. Darth Maul turned to face him. "What do you want?" Luke asked, clearly doing his best to not be afraid (and failing miserably).

" _You_ , boy." Darth Maul said coldly. "I want you by my side. As _my_ apprentice."

"If...if I go with you...will you let my mother go?"

Darth Maul considered that. His natural instinct was to kill her anyway, since mercy was hardly the stuff of a self-respecting Sith Lord. But, if he did, the boy might choose to join his mother in death rather than let himself become Maul's apprentice. Or worse, he could throw himself into the path of Maul's blade or Force attack in some stupid act of selfless protection. And he was too valuable an asset to Maul to lose.

So Darth Maul decided to play it safe. "Yes. I will."

"OK...I'll go with you."

"Good." Darth Maul said before blasting Padme into the wall of the hut hard enough to knock her out. "She'll live." He said curtly before grabbing Luke with one hand. "Come. We're leaving here."

Darth Maul fairly dragged Luke out of the hut, but stopped short when he saw Obi-Wan there, clearly in pain, but with his lightsaber nevertheless still drawn and held at the ready.

"Determined to die by my hand, are you?" Darth Maul asked with a raised eyebrow. "So be it." He let Luke go and went at Obi-Wan again. With only one hand and still feeling the stinging pain of Maul's lightning, Obi-Wan never stood a chance. Maul easily disarmed him, also destroying his green lightsaber in the process. As he kicked Obi-Wan to the ground, he prepared to spear him on one of his blades...

...before another fan of green energy sliced through his mid-section.

Darth Maul gasped in pain as he realized too late that he'd forgotten about the boy. As his top half slid off his legs and his life left him, his last thought was: " _Pity...the boy would have made the perfect...apprentice..."_

The next morning saw the burying of Yoda, Tyranus, and Maul. Once that was done, Padme and Obi-Wan took stock of the situation:

"We probably won't be able to stay here." Obi-Wan observed. "Not after what has happened. Darth Sidious will have sensed his apprentice's death, and likely Master Yoda's too."

"Where else can we go?" Padme asked. "Luke still needs to finish his training."

"I can think of a few different planets we can hide out on, you needn't worry about that. But we can't stay here. That much I know."

"I understand." Padme said, before her eyes fell on the stump where Obi-Wan's last remaining flesh and blood limb had been. "I'll be sure that Bail gets you another prosthetic."

Obi-Wan sighed. "I'm more machine now, then man. Twisted and broken."

Padme shook her head. "No, not broken. You're still a great Jedi, Master Kenobi." She smiled. "My son couldn't have gotten better teachers than you and Master Yoda."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Master Yoda's at last one with the Force now. Which means that your son and myself are now truly the last of the Jedi. Just us two." He sighed. "Two will have to be enough." The two old friends turned to see Luke still standing over Yoda's grave, looking despondent. Yoda's lightsaber was now Luke's to wield as a secondary one, the old Jedi's final gift to him. Obi-Wan shook his head at the sight, but he knew that he couldn't allow Luke time to mourn. Not with all that was still at stake and all that remained unresolved.

"Come. Gather your son and whatever you wish to bring with you. We still have a Galaxy to save."

 **Author's Notes: Well...that turned out _way_ longer than I had planned. Oh well. I still enjoyed writing it. **

**I was inspired by _Empire Strikes Back Infinites_ for the last scene, while the decision to give Obi-Wan a green lightsaber is based off of both the Star Wars miniature Obi-Wan Kenobi, Unleashed who has a green blade, and the Revenge of the Sith video game, where the Player 2 Ben Kenobi in dueling mode uses a green saber.**

 **And no, there will be no Part 2 to this. The next chapter will be a different AU centered around the Republic winning Galactic Conquest. Then one more for the Empire.**


	2. Republic Sovereignty

_A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away..._

 _White armored Clone Troopers and burgundy-clad Galactic Marines flooded the streets of Mygeeto under the leadership of Ki-Adi-Mundi, cutting down droids left and right in liberation of the planet._

 _On Kashyyyk, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order himself personally led the successful defense of the Wookie homeworld against all Droid invaders to the planet._

 _On Felucia, the Jedi Knight Aayla Secura led the Republic to victory against the Droid army, her still-loyal troops watching her back the whole time as she expertly wielded two lightsabers at a time against the Separatist droids._

 _With a cleaving slash across the mid-section, the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi left the Separatist's fiendish cyborg general in two pieces on the streets of Utapau, pilfered lightsabers from now avenged Jedi tumbling out of his hands._

 _With a mighty upwards slash, Master Mace Windu ended the threat of the Sith forever._

 _And with the full support of the Jedi High Council, a Jedi Knight who had successfully resisted temptation was welcomed as one of them at long last._

The Republic had reclaimed the Galaxy.

 _Naboo_

Anakin Skywalker sat in the lush green field of grass on Naboo, looking up into the sky and searching for something he knew was already gone.

"What is it, Annie?" Came the ever-sweet voice of his wife. Anakin turned and smiled to see Padme walking up to him, wearing, in a pleasant coincidence, the same lovely multicolored dress she had when they'd had their first kiss. Anakin felt himself go just a little red with embarrassment as he also thought back to his abysmal attempt at small-talk that he'd made beforehand. Something stupid about not liking sand if he remembered right.

Thank the Force his wife was so forgiving of those kinds of things.

"I thought I saw a Venator-Class Star Destroyer." Anakin answered honestly. "Or some other ship from the war. A really big one."

Padme frowned. "How could that be? The Clone Wars ended _years_ ago, Annie."

It was true, it had. And afterwards, Anakin's wife had been among the loudest voices calling for disarmament now that there was no longer a need or justification for having something that she for one had never been comfortable with to begin with, which was an army and a navy. Some other, less dovish voices in the Senate had insisted that having some basic defense system in place besides the Jedi (who had lost so many during the war), wasn't unreasonable, and a compromise had thus been reached to break the deadlock; more Clone Troopers would continue to be grown, and some of the Republic navy would be retained, but all of the biggest ships and weapons would be dismantled and retired. And the newer generations of clones could actually decide whether they wanted to remain in the army, or if they wanted to serve the Republic in a _different_ capacity.

The point was, there hadn't been a Venator-Class Star Destroyer patrolling the Galaxy in years. There hadn't been hardly _any_ major ships of the now barely-functioning Republic Navy patrolling the Galaxy's skies for years.

Anakin thought back to when he'd first seen them; _dozens_ of them, each packed to the brim with legions of Clone Troopers, all clad in their then still shiny and new white armor and helmets, and ready to fight to defend the Republic. He remembered being one of the few Jedi who was actually truly impressed with the sight, and looking _forward_ to seeing the Clone Troopers in action. Unlike many other Jedi, he had never shirked from or blanched in the face of action. That just wasn't his way.

Or at least, it hadn't been at the time.

"You probably just saw a large cargo freighter, or something like that." Padme suggested, as she did sitting down next to Anakin and snuggling up to him. Anakin took a moment to study her face; even twenty standard years after they'd first married, with her now in her mid-forties, she was still so beautiful; her hair remained brown without a single gray lock, and her face was unlined. Anakin too had aged fairly well in his own estimations. He wore his thirty-nine standard years well, and thanks to Naboo's ever-high fashion he always looked the perfect gentlemen or dashing young noble, even as he got closer and closer to middle age.

"I probably did." Anakin conceded. Nevertheless he looked up into the sky again, thinking that perhaps if he looked long enough, he could see it again. But he couldn't. Whatever the ship had been, it was gone from view now.

 _Pity._

"How is Obi-Wan these days?" Padme asked, continuing to rest in Anakin's always loving embrace. "Have you spoken with him recently?"

Anakin shook his head. "No, actually, I haven't..." He trailed off. He hadn't spoken to Obi-Wan in _years_ , actually. So many years now in fact, that he wasn't even entirely sure when he last had. He didn't think Padme even realized just how cut off from his former Jedi Master Anakin had become after he'd chosen to leave the Order.

His mind thought back to that distant time, fifteen standard years ago now it had been. Dwelling on the past was something Jedi frowned upon, but as he was no longer a Jedi, Anakin decided to indulge himself anyway...

 _...it had been shortly after Palpatine's being unmasked as Darth Sidious, and his subsequent death in battle against the Jedi Council. With so many Jedi left dead by the end of the whole war, it had perhaps not been the ideal time to consider leaving the Order himself, and in so doing depriving them of one of their few remaining brightest stars. But Anakin had given it a lot of thought. And while finally being accepted as a Jedi Master and having a seat on the Council was nice and all, he found that it just didn't measure up to the thought of being able to spend as much time with his wife as he wanted; no longer having to hide, or seek out secret meeting places in the streets of Coruscant, or behind pillars in empty rooms. No, he could love her and hold her and kiss her whenever_ ** _she_** _wanted, not whenever society wasn't looking._

 _But of course, to expose his forbidden love to the Jedi Order, and after being accepted as a Master no less, that would never do._

 _So Anakin spent another two years with the Jedi Order, basking in the privilege and influence that being on the High Council entailed. With Agen Kolar having been among the Jedi Masters to perish in the attempt to arrest Palpatine, Anakin went from having a simple placeholder seat without the rank of master to go with it, to having the late and great Zabrak master's seat for himself. Shortly thereafter Anakin's fellow Knight Aayla Secura got promoted to the High Council as well, replacing Shaak Ti (who had also fallen in battle against Palpatine). She had actually been the one to suspect Anakin was not entirely happy with the Jedi, but had not confronted him about it, respecting his need to decide for himself what he wished to do. The only reason Anakin knew at all was because she had told him later, at the wedding..._

 _But, after those two years, Anakin decided it was finally time to move on. And so, he chose to come clean to the one Jedi he had come to trust with his secret; his old master, Obi-Wan._

 _"You **what!?** " Obi-Wan had asked, outraged and thunderstruck in equal measure by the reveal of Anakin's secret marriage._

 _"I was sort of hoping you **wouldn't** just respond the way every other Jedi would." Anakin had said with a sigh._

 _"Anakin, do you have any idea what this means!?" Obi-Wan had demanded, frowning deeply. In the face of this, Anakin had briefly lost his temper: "Yes, I know **exactly** what it means! That's why I plan to leave the Jedi Order!"_

 _That had stopped Obi-Wan dead in his tracks. "What did you just say?"_

 _"I said I plan to leave the Jedi Order." Anakin had repeated, this time much more calmly. "I'm sorry, Obi-Wan, but I can't do this anymore; I don't want to live half my life in secret anymore. I want to be free to love Padme openly. And we both know that can't happen while I'm still with the Jedi Order. So I'm going to leave."_

 _Obi-Wan's already deep frown had somehow managed to get even deeper still. The Lost Twenty that had been knocked down to nineteen after it was revealed that the late Count Dooku was now just another fallen Jedi turned Sith Lord...was about to become the Lost Twenty again._

 _"I see..." Obi-Wan had said, doing his best to control himself. "...I'd disagree with your decision to leave, but in view of what you just told me I suppose it **is** the best course."_

 _"You're still mad at me, huh?" Anakin had said with a frown._

 _"I'm upset, yes. You shouldn't have married Senator Amidala behind my back. Behind the entire Jedi Order's back no less."_

 _"I loved her." Anakin had defended without hesitation. "And I still do."_

 _"Then if that's the case, you should have left the Order then and there, and **then** married her."_

 _"What, and let you all fight the Clone Wars without me? Not likely. Remember that **I** was the one who discovered that Palpatine was Darth Sidious all along."_

 _"As I recall, he **chose** to reveal to __you who he was in an attempt to make you his new apprentice." Obi-Wan returned, shaking his head. "Albeit, you **were** the one who brought Shaak, Cin Drallig, and several other masters to the Chancellor's office to reinforce Mace, Kit, Tiin, and Agen Kolar when they tried to arrest him..."_

 _"Yeah, a fight that got most of them killed." Anakin had said with a sigh, well remembering Shaak Ti and Cin Drallig's deaths in particular, considering the latter had, alongside Obi-Wan, taught Anakin how to use a lightsaber in the first place. "I didn't like how that turned out either, Master. But let's face it; if it weren't for me, Palpatine still could have won. Even with that augmentation Mace got from Vaapad, he still wasn't enough on his own. And if I'd left the Jedi Order beforehand, I never would have been there to help, or bring anyone else to help."_

 _"All true." Obi-Wan had conceded reluctantly. "I suppose I should be grateful that you didn't leave the Jedi Order after all...but I still don't like the situation."_

 _"How do you think **I've** felt all these years? Having to keep this a secret from you and everyone else?" Anakin had shaken his head as though he were a bantha trying to lose fleas. "But the Clone Wars are over now, and Palpatine is dead. I don't **need** to be a Jedi anymore, which is why I can finally leave and be with Padme."_

 _"There's **always** a need for Jedi, Anakin." Obi-Wan had admonished lightly. _

_"Maybe so, but this one Jedi wants other things in his life now. Things that the Jedi Order can't let me have. I only ask one thing from you now."_

 _"Which is?" Obi-Wan had asked with a raised eyebrow._

 _"That you...keep my secret for me. Please. Don't tell anyone else about what I did. Let me leave the Jedi Order and marry Padme publicly, and then you, me, and her will be the only ones who were ever the wiser."_

 _"You're asking me to keep a secret for you?"_

 _"I trusted you enough to tell you it now, didn't I?" Anakin had asked. "Well, I'm asking you not to betray that trust. If you do, you'll justify my **not** telling you before."_

 _Obi-Wan had sighed deeply at that. "So that's my ultimatum then, is it?" He'd shaken his head. "I don't like it."_

 _"I know."_

 _"...but I'll do it. In the name of our friendship. And out of respect for your trust in me and for how you **did** help end the Clone Wars and destroy the Sith." He made a bemused smirk. "Will you invite me to the wedding?"_

 _Anakin had smiled. "Of course."_

Obi-Wan had in fact come, though Anakin could tell that he was still annoyed with him for putting him in the position that he had, and for having kept such a secret from him for so long. Anakin's old master had been good as his word though, and the Jedi Order never learned the truth about just how long Anakin had been married to Padme Amidala. Anakin had always had a hunch that some of the Jedi suspected the truth, but if they did they never confronted him or Obi-Wan about it. And so Anakin had married Padme (again), and retired with her to Naboo, Padme preferring to spend more time there on her homeworld and less on Coruscant even though she remained a senator even now. Anakin had been formally introduced to her family, who were at first wary of him due to having never really known him before he became their in-law seemingly out of the blue. But over time they'd come to see that Anakin was no trouble and slowly warmed up to him, and from there Anakin and Padme settled down. There had never been children, which was at this point in the couple's lives a fairly dulled pain that neither of them talked about. But of course, not _every_ couple had kids, and Anakin and Padme had been happy together in spite of this conspicuous absence in their lives. And adoption did always remain a possibility. Technically so did biological children, though Padme was for obvious reasons reluctant to begin _that_ at 44 standard years of age. Possible, yes, but not desirable.

The pleasant sound of birds chirping off in the distance brought Anakin back to the present, as did Padme moaning softly next to him. He kissed her, and she kissed him back. The two exchanged a few more kisses before Padme rested her head on his chest. "You were deep in thought again." She noted. "What were you thinking about?"

"The past." Anakin replied honestly, if not also evasively. She didn't let him off the hook.

"What parts of the past?"

"When I first told Obi-Wan about us." Anakin said, before adding: "You know, I don't think he ever really got over it."

"He's your friend, Annie."

" _Was_ my friend." Anakin corrected, just a bit more sharply then he had intended. "Padme, we haven't really seen much of each-other since our public wedding. And we haven't spoken in years."

Padme frowned. "I didn't know that. I thought you two were still close..."

"I wish." Anakin replied sadly. He really did. He'd given Obi-Wan endless grief during his Padawan years, but no matter what he said in moments of anger, arrogance, or youthful stupidity, he'd always looked up to Obi-Wan like the father he'd never had. Palpatine had assumed that role too, but Anakin now knew it had all been a lie. With Obi-Wan though, Anakin knew he had something special. And after Anakin became knighted shortly after General Grievous' debut on Hypori and _his_ victory over Asajj Ventress on Yavin IV, he had matured enough that he could appreciate Obi-Wan's guidance more, and the two had gone from master and apprentice to being more like brothers. If there was any part of the Clone Wars that Anakin could claim to miss, it would be him and Obi-Wan fighting side by side, humiliating the Separatists on world after world and becoming the talk of the Galaxy; Anakin and Obi-Wan. _Kenobi and Skywalker._ It had become a single word. A very powerful one too. And Anakin had undone it.

But what else could he have done? Kept up the lie indefinitely? No, that wouldn't have been possible. He'd have gone mad trying to do that, or worse, he'd have been discovered. No, as painful as it was to have damaged his friendship with Obi-Wan, Anakin knew that this was ultimately the only way that would have worked.

"I'm sorry." Padme said, which brought Anakin's attentions back to her.

"So am I." He admitted before kissing her again. "But given the choice between the two of you, there was only one choice I could make, no matter how I feel about him. _You're_ my wife."

"I miss seeing him though." Padme admitted. "You two were such good friends once. Like brothers, even."

"We were." Anakin confirmed. "But that was a long time ago." Nowadays, Anakin found he barely resembled the Jedi Knight he'd been in his youth, and not just because he wasn't a Jedi anymore; fifteen years of peaceful marriage on a planet as idyllic as Naboo had finally put out the raging fire that had been inside him for so long, broken the chaotic storm. The young man who had once had a well-deserve reputation for audacity, arrogance, and liking action and fighting just a little _too_ much for a Jedi, had mellowed out. He still felt the Force, and his dueling skills, though unused since relinquishing his blue lightsaber that was now on display in the Jedi Temple, were still with him. He felt it every day. But he no longer felt the need to use them, and the idea that he'd never have to again somehow didn't bother him. Had it been him before Geonosis he'd have found the thought ghastly, but a war, especially one your side nearly lost, tended to give one their fill of action and violence for a lifetime.

If there was any discomfort to his life besides the absence of Obi-Wan and children in it, it was a recurring nightmare he had; that of a fiery, hellish landscape on some planet he didn't recognize, and a black helmeted, wraith-like figure who stalked his dreams as an unwelcome shadow. Anakin didn't know what it was or why it was there, but he knew he didn't like it. It represented something, he could feel it. Something terrible...

"Perhaps you should consider reaching out to Obi-Wan again?" Padme asked. "I know _I'd_ like to see him again. And I think you should. And I can't imagine him still being angry with you after so long. Jedi aren't like that."

Anakin considered. He reasoned that his wife had a point and that it couldn't hurt to try. So he nodded and said: "Alright, Padme. I'll contact him tomorrow."

Padme smiled warmly at him. "Thank you, Annie."

 _Coruscant_

Two blue lightsabers and one purple one continued to clash with one another as the weapon's two owners went back and forth in their spar in the presently empty High Council chamber.

"You've still got it I see." Said Aayla Secura with a smile as she continued to level both of her lightsaber blades at the now fairly along-in-years Jedi Master.

"I was doing this when you were just a child, Aayla." Obi-Wan returned with a gentle smile. "I've got plenty of experience."

"So do I, if you remember." Aayla returned with a cocky grin as she swung out with the purple lightsaber that had once been Mace Windu's but was now her's after the latter's passing. Obi-Wan's own blue lightsaber was a blur as it met each of Aayla's strikes without missing a beat. Even at his present age Obi-Wan Kenobi still had it, and he was determined to make sure that the younger Master didn't forget it. As Aayla made a reckless stab, Obi-Wan punished the blunder by pressing his lightsaber right up against it's purple counterpart, angling his hand in a clockwise motion that sent the weapon flying out of Aayla's hand. A force push from Obi-Wan blasted the hilt further away, and follow-up strikes kept Aayla on the defensive and thus unable to call it back to her.

The duel continued, blue blades lancing back and forth as Aayla now fought with only her original lightsaber. She didn't let up though; she'd grown in skill over the years even with the Clone Wars a long time ended. She saw the wisdom in keeping in practice, especially with the aging but still merciless Aurra Sing and other Dark Jedi still at large...

At last, the two blue lightsaber blades clashed again, and Obi-Wan and Aayla Secura engaged in a saber-lock. Any thought Aayla had to overpowering her older opponent in this contest of strength was dashed when Obi-Wan refused to fold, instead putting in strength to equal Aayla's.

Realizing they weren't getting anywhere, the two each broke the saber-lock, and resumed the exchanging of blows. At long last though, Obi-Wan managed to neatly disarm Aayla of her lightsaber with a perfectly landed and timed thrusting move. Grabbing her lightsaber in his free hand, he aimed both blades at her throat as an indication for her to yield. She did so.

"Well fought, Master Kenobi." Aayla Secura said with a smile.

"You as well, Master Secura." Obi-Wan said with a nod of respect. He handed Aayla back her lightsaber, and she summoned to her Mace Windu's lightsaber that was now her second. The two then bowed to each-other. The door opened, getting their attention, and they turned to see a younger Jedi enter.

"Forgive the intrusion, masters. But we have received a message from Naboo. One asking for Master Kenobi specifically."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow at this but nevertheless went off to take the transmission. When he did though, and he saw just who's blue holographic form was flickering to life, his jaw all but hit the floor.

"Anakin..."

Anakin Skywalker smiled meekly. "Hello, Obi-Wan."

 _Naboo_

"You've done well for yourself, Anakin." Obi-Wan said as he observed the interior of his and Padme's home. Jedi usually didn't have possessions, but Anakin had made up for that in full since leaving the Order. Of particular interest to Obi-Wan were models of podracers, Jedi Starfighters, and Clone Wars-era vehicles.

"It's been...interesting, life outside the Jedi Order." Anakin said with a nod of confirmation. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure I could handle it during those first few months. The first year or two was difficult. But I'm used to it by now. I don't think I could ever backtrack."

"No, no, of course not." Obi-Wan agreed.

"You look like you've done all right for yourself too, to be honest." Anakin said with a smile. "I can still sense the Force in you, Master; it's as strong as it's ever been."

"Well, it's good to see my advancing age is good for something at least." Obi-Wan said, shaking his head with a self-deprecating smile.

"I'm glad you came."

"As am I." Obi-Wan admitted. "It's been...too long, since we last spoke."

"So...no hard feelings at this point?"

"Of course not." Obi-Wan said. "Jedi don't hold grudges, Anakin."

"Then how come you never contacted me all these many years?"

"Because it seemed like you were content and happy without the Order, so I chose to respect that and leave you be. Never realized how much you missed having my presence in your life. But besides that..." He smiled. "...a Jedi Master's work is never done."

"Come on, the Galaxy is at peace now. Has been for years."

"Yes, and will hopefully remain so for the rest of our lifetimes." Obi-Wan said. The two were interrupted by the arrival of Padme, who smiled warmly upon seeing her old friend.

"Obi-Wan!" She said, making her way to him and hugging him tightly. "Oh, it's so good to see you again!"

"Likewise, Padme." Obi-Wan said.

"Has Threepio gotten you anything?" Padme asked.

"No, but it's quite alright. I'm not thirsty at the moment."

Padme nodded and took Anakin's arm in her own. "We've both missed you. Will you be staying long? We have so much to catch up on."

"Well, my presence isn't particularly required at the moment, so I suppose I can, if that's what you want."

Padme nodded vigorously. "It is."

Obi-Wan smiled. "Well then in that case, perhaps I may like something for myself after all...

When Obi-Wan finally left, with the promise of coming back to visit again soon, it was well into the night. As Padme and Anakin watched his ship fly away, Padme looked at him and smiled. "See? I told you contacting him would be a good thing."

"Yeah, you were right." Anakin agreed with a nod.

Keeping up her smile, Padme added: "And I've got some more good news for you too."

"Which is?"

Padme's expression actually seemed to become nervous for a moment, but then she said: "Annie...I'm pregnant."

Anakin's eyes widened in shock. "You're _what!?_ "

"I said I'm pregnant." Padme said happily.

"But...but..." Anakin felt dazed by the news, especially in light of how he'd been thinking about their having never had kids before not that long ago. "...but how? Why now? So...late?"

"Some of us have done it in our fifties, you know." Padme said. "I admit, it's not common to be having kids at my age, but..." She looked up at him. "...it's finally happened, Annie. The one last thing in our lives we've been missing our entire marriage is finally here."

"But...but..." And in the end, he couldn't think of a "but". So instead, he just decided to give into his knee-jerk instincts and be happy about it.

Kissing Padme, Anakin said: "That's good news. _Really_ good news."

"Can you...sense, if it will be a boy or a girl?"

Anakin grinned and shook his head. "Doesn't work that way, I'm afraid. But...if it _is_ a girl, I think we should name her 'Leia'."

"Leia...I like the sound of that."

That night, as the couple went to bed, and Anakin allowed sleep to overtake him, he again faced the nightmare; that of the black glass hellscape, the lake of fire, the crimson skies. The black helmeted figure looming up as a dark shadow. His wife calling out his name in anguish.

And he thrust the nightmare behind him. His fears would not hold sway over him. Not again...

 **Author's Notes: I decided that part of _why_ Anakin made the right choice in this AU was because he wasn't afraid of losing Padme to childbirth...because she never got pregnant! Well, until the end of the story that is. ;)**

 **Was a bit inspired by Luke's dream in The Last Jedi novelization for this one.**

 **And for those scratching their heads wondering why the heck I gave Aayla Secura Mace Windu's lightsaber, it's because in Star Wars Battlefront II she is depicted using two lightsabers (the second one being green in gameplay but purple in cutscenes). Since these stories are based on SWB II's Galactic Conquest endings, I decided to give her the second, purple lightsaber to reference this.**


	3. Dark Reign of the Empire

_A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away..._

 _A Mandalorian Bounty Hunter presided over the greatest catch of his career, forever encased in carbonite._

 _A towering lord of the Dark Side, more machine than man, Force choked his own daughter into unconsciousness._

 _A force of the Emperor's finest killed all in their path on a forest moon, be they Rebel soldiers or native alien life._

 _In space, a great spherical battle station, the second of it's kind, was completed at last._

 _Within that battle station, the would-be last of the Jedi kneeled before his new, darker master._

 _Returning the battle station to the Empire's capital, a **new** Emperor strode forwards to make what was once his master's his own. Where once he was but the learner, now **he** is the master._

The Empire had conquered the Galaxy.

 _Coruscant_

"Is something wrong, my love?"

Luke Skywalker turned to look at his recently acquired paramour, Mara Jade, who stood there at attention waiting for him to respond, as though he were her commanding officer rather than her lover (although technically he _was_ both).

He shook his head. "No, no, nothing's wrong, Mara."

But the woman in a form-fitting black suit with fiery red hair simply smiled and shook her head. "I can tell you're lying, Luke." She moved closer to him and took his hand in her own. "What is it?"

Luke sighed. It was true. She _could_ tell that he was lying. He couldn't get anything past her, which a part of him liked, but the part that wanted to maintain his secrets didn't.

Nevertheless, he reasoned he owed Mara an explanation of some kind:

"I miss my sister, for one thing." He said, as he did looking out at the Coruscant city-scape that their tower in the Imperial Palace afforded them. Ships and speeders continued to fly by as usual, while the planet's mostly human population went about their various activities largely oblivious to the dark masters who presided over them.

Mara Jade frowned in the face of her lover's comment, before raising a black leather gloved hand to the side of Luke's head, and turning his gaze back to her. "Your sister wouldn't embrace the Empire as you did, Luke. We couldn't just let her go free to form a new Rebellion."

"I know, I know." Luke said, but he still didn't like it. Since learning that Leia _was_ his sister, he had come to care for and love her as a sibling should, and so her safety and well-being was important to him no less than was his own, his father's, or Mara's. It had, in fact been this connection that had spared Leia from the fate that had been dealt out to all the other Rebel leaders the Empire had managed to find in the wake of the Rebellion's shattering at the Battle of Endor. Leia, who had actually been captured earlier trying to escape Bespin, had been her brother and father's secret hostage, her fate unrevealed to Emperor Palpatine, until after he was out of the way. Then Leia's capture had been publicly announced to the Galaxy as a whole, and that was that.

" _She's lucky."_ Mara was always telling him. " _If it had been Palpatine still in charge, he wouldn't have just had your sister killed, he'd have made her death last a hell of a long time."_

Luke knew this of course, having witnessed the Emperor's brutality once himself. He wasn't sorry that things had played out as they had...

 _Luke had kneeled before Emperor Palpatine, who smiled cruelly at the sight. No doubt the fact that he'd successfully brought the last Jedi to his knees was as appealing to him as his successful conversion of Luke to the Dark Side._

 _"I pledge myself...to your Sith teachings." Luke had said, to which Emperor Palpatine had nodded approvingly. "Good, good. A powerful Sith Lord, you will become. Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth..."_

 _But Palpatine had never gotten to actually bestow upon Luke a Darth title. Because in that instant, his own apprentice Vader had tried to impale him from behind on his lightsaber. Palpatine had sensed the sneak-attack and whipped around, bombarding Vader with Force lightning, but this had been the plan all along; as the Emperor was electrocuting his father, Luke drew his own lightsaber and slashed. His speed having increased along with his power and skill in the eight years that his father had been training him in secret on worlds like Korriban and Ziost and Drommund Kaas, Luke was now fast enough that Palpatine could not react to the surprise move. With a single cleaving slash of green fire the one-hundred year old Sith Lord who had been ruling the Galaxy for three decades, was finally dead. A look of pure shock and surprise, an inability to comprehend that he'd actually lost, was written on his face like a last testament. Luke looked at it without pity._

There had, of course, been a great many in the Empire who had not been eager to accept the sudden and violent regime change; Palpatine loyalists had resisted and were still doing so, but with the Death Star and the Dark Side both on their side, Darth Vader and Darth Starkiller as he'd since chosen for himself, found wiping out those who would not accept their leadership fairly easy. Even so, the fighting had continued, and continued, until after about a year of it all had come to finally accept that the war with the rebellion had been replaced with an Imperial Civil War.

A war that was still going on yet another year later, and fully ten years after Luke had first opted to embrace the same dark path his father had chosen.

Thinking to this made Luke suspect that his lover had news to give him relating to the war. So he decided to ask her for confirmation. And sure enough, she nodded.

"Yes, I was told to inform you that Polis Massa is back in our hands again."

Luke nodded approvingly at this. "And...?"

"...and the fight to retake Bespin is ongoing." Mara said, the usually proud woman daring to look just a little ashamed admitting to this the one man she could claim to love to any degree. Deciding also that she needed to say more, Mara added: "The loyalists know it is one of their last major strongholds. They are not going to let it go without a fight. Our men are doing their best, but with so many other worlds in need of seizing or re-seizing, plus maintaining general order throughout the Galaxy, we only have so many men to spare."

Luke nodded his understanding at all of this, silently considering such excuses and prostrations to be unbecoming of his lover but saying nothing. Instead, he simply returned his gaze to the Coruscant city-scape, looking out at it and at the steady sunset before his eyes. Luke found he looked out at the sunset often; it reminded him of his days, over a decade ago, on Tatooine. Those far away days when he would look out at the Twin Suns as they set, all the while dreaming of grand adventures far away from his miserable, futureless existence as a moisture farmer.

Well, he'd gotten his wish; now he was the second most powerful and influential being in the entire Galaxy behind his father, who now sat on Palpatine's throne and commanded the Empire in his stead. But what of the cost? His aunt and uncle for starters. Then Biggs, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Han...even his own sister, though still alive, was no less absent from his life, exiled indefinitely as she was to the planet Vjun.

So many friends gone...of course, he now had his father back in his life, the two united in their love of each-other and their shared desire for peace and order and an end to destructive conflict. At least, that's what Luke often told himself. Privately, he wasn't so sure that his father really wanted an end to conflict. It was, after all, what fueled adherents to the Dark Side and the Sith in particular. It was what ought to have been feeding Luke all this time, but somehow, no matter what he claimed to his father, to Mara, or to anyone else, he had never quite taken to it. Not in full.

Oh, certainly he used the Dark Side of the Force; he could Force Choke the life out of a being twice as fast as his father ever could, unleashed Force Screams powerful enough to crumble stone, and Force Lightning that left nothing behind of the beings it struck save for piles of dust on the floor. And yet...

...Luke still felt the Light Side inside himself. It was much fainter now, a quieter voice than it had been before, when he'd first apprenticed himself to Ben and then to Yoda. Like a once loud, boisterous friend who had been turned into a scared whisperer. But still it was there. Luke could sense it. He worried that his father and Mara could sense it too, but if they could, they had never acted on it.

"You're doing it again."

Mara's voice brought Luke back to the here and now. He turned to look at her again and could see that she was giving a bemused smile and a raised eyebrow. "For a Dark Lord of the Sith, you're awfully absent-minded."

Luke smiled gently. "I guess I never was very good at being one, was I?" He shook his head. "I know you came here to give me a report, but...I'd like you to stay by my side."

Mara nodded. "Of course, my love."

And so the two stood there together, silently looking out at the Coruscant horizon as the sun finally finished vanishing in full and night came on the planet. TIE Fighters and Interceptors flew by, no doubt off to join another naval battlegroup for another battle, or else just to be transferred to a location in need of being "kept under control". Truth be told, Luke couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer size, strength, and versatility of the Imperial Navy, but he'd also be lying if he had said he didn't still prefer a good old-fashioned X-Wing. Enough so, in fact, that it remained his vessel of choice, though now painted black and silver instead of the original gray, white, and red color scheme and boasting the Imperial logo.

The silent moment between Luke and Mara was interrupted by the arrival of two red robed Royal Guards, each bearing a lightsaber pike (though the blades were not presently activated).

"The Emperor requests your presence now." One of them said simply. Luke nodded his understanding. He kissed Mara on the lips. "I won't be long." He assured her.

"I'll be waiting." Mara said with a smile in a deadpan tone as Luke turned to follow the new red robed Royal Guards who had long ago replaced the ones loyal to the Emperor, who'd had to be annihilated for obvious reasons. These new ones, though they dressed identically to their predecessors, were 100% loyal to Vader and his son from training on Yinchorr to death.

The Royal Guards led Luke through the large, cavernous hallways of the Imperial palace. Filling them were various Sith artifacts, art pieces, and framed weapons and armor from all types of warriors throughout the Galaxy as trophies of the Empire's many conquests and countless victories...including the lightsabers of dead Jedi. One such lightsaber, Luke frequently observed, was Ben's.

For some reason, he always felt angry whenever he saw that one.

Finally though, Luke reached the throne room, and beheld his father.

Flanked by more of his Royal Guards, Darth Vader, the new Emperor of the Empire, sat in a new throne made for him after Vader had had Palpatine's destroyed. He had not wanted to sit in the seat of the man who he'd grown to hate and loathe more than anyone else in his life after learning too late just how much of a lie his paternal interest in him as a Jedi youth had been. The new throne had a different design to it, made, in fact, to resemble Darth Vader's helmet in shape.

Luke bowed before him. "What is it, father?"

"The traitorous Imperials on Bespin have resisted us for far too long. I want you to lead the next attack. With your power, Bespin will be as good as won."

Luke nodded. He had expected that the moment Mara told him that Bespin still hadn't been retaken. "As you wish, father." He paused. He wondered if he had anything further to say, hoped he might have more to say. He knew the Sith Master was anything but a sentimental type, but each man had a soft spot in their corrupted hearts for the other, and Luke valued the few times Vader dared to show that.

But, this time at least, Vader had no desire to showcase that soft spot. Instead, he raised one of his black gloved hands dismissively. "That is all, Luke."

Luke nodded, got up, turned, and left, his black cape identical to his father's trailing behind him.

 _Vjun_

Leia kissed her son and daughter on the head as she tucked each of them into bed, and then left their lavish bedroom.

The one-time princess of the long-destroyed Alderaan and member of the long-disbanded Imperial Senate strode down the hallways of the brown and gray castle, it's imposing structures and cavernous interiors having never been something she'd gotten used to. That the castle was technically one of her father's strongholds contributed to this perpetual unease.

Leia sighed as she went into one of the castle's many chambers, this one refurbished so as to be a place one could go to to relax. She sat down on one of the comfortable black couches and did her best to relax. She wore a long, black nightgown dress that was fastened with a clasp that was the Imperial logo. Her dark brown hair was now in a long braid, and there was a hollowness in her eyes that would have unsettled anyone who looked at them.

Anyone, that is, except her husband.

"Are the children asleep?" Asked a fairly deep and commanding voice, though he wasn't commanding anyone right at the moment. Leia turned to see her husband of eight standard years, Baron Praxer, was standing there, clearly expecting her to come to him or at least address him in some way. He was a handsome man with olive skin and red hair, and wore the typical black uniform of an Imperial Officer loyal to Vader's Empire, hat, white gloves and all. His badge was that of twelve rectangles, six red ones on top and six blue ones on the bottom. This marked him as an admiral. In a departure from standard uniform, he also wore a black cape of armor-weave.

Leia nodded. "Yes. I just tucked them in."

"Excellent." The Admiral closed the distance between himself and his bride and sat down next to her. He caressed her legs as he looked at her with a smile. "Your brother will be leading the latest attack on Bespin. The Palpatine loyalists there are as good as finished."

"Luke..." Leia muttered. She hadn't seen her brother in a decade. Not since Cloud City, before she'd even known he was her brother, being dragged away by an Imperial Officer screaming at him that he was walking into a trap. Screaming before being dragged off and then a hard blow to the back of her head made everything go black. She'd woken up on Darth Vader's ship, where he'd told her the truth about her connection to him and to Luke, before using his dark powers to send her back into unconsciousness. She'd woken up in the castle on Vjun where a prerecorded holographic message left by her father informed her that she was to remain there...for life.

Or, until she embraced her father's vision and became a proud member of his Empire. She had refused to do that. And so here she was, ten years later.

"Have you spoken to him at all?" Leia asked hopefully. The Baron was a powerful figure in Vader's Empire, and he sometimes had the "honor" of meeting Vader and Luke. He sometimes passed messages from the latter on to Leia, and she savored such correspondence. Other times though, the baron-admiral had no news to give.

And today, was one such time.

"I'm afraid I don't." He said. "I didn't get to speak to Lord Starkiller today."

"His name is Luke." Leia said with a frown, sitting up as she did. "Luke Skywalker."

The Baron-Admiral smiled and shook his head. "The Galaxy knows him as Lord Starkiller now, my dear. Or 'Darth Starkiller'. Either or."

"Well, he's _my_ brother, and he'll always be Luke Skywalker to me." Leia said with a frown. For a split-second, that inner fire, that tireless defiance in the face of cruelty and tyranny and everything the Empire stood for, seemed to come back.

And then Praxer stroked her chin, taking it in his hand and forcing her to look right at him, and those embers died out. "Perhaps, my love. But in any case, I have no message from him to give to you today. I do, however, have my own...'desires' involving you tonight."

Leia nodded her understanding. The two shared a kiss, and Leia thought back to how she'd first met Praxer.

 _It had been after the disastrous Battle of Endor. Word had reached Leia on Vjun that the Rebel Fleet had been crushed in orbit above Endor's Moon, and that the second Death Star remained intact. It had been this news, when Leia realized it was horribly true and not merely lies, that had dealt her spunky and feisty spirit a savage blow from which it was not destined to recover. Repeated "sessions" with the Imperial Officers who's job it was to make sure she didn't try to leave the stronghold and who punished her for every failed attempt, sessions that consisted entirely of her being strapped down and injected with drugs from IT-O Interrogator Droids that Leia had first been subjected to on the original Death Star, further sapped her fortitude and weakened her spirit._

 _In short, by the time Leia had first been introduced to Praxer five standard years after the Battle of Yavin, she had little fight left in her. Another standard year after that, including a straight week of endless injections, and she was well broken._

 _Not only that, but Leia knew why Praxer was there; officially, it had been because her father desired a more permanent presence in his daughter's exiled and imprisoned life and also wanted someone who might just care for her (the closest thing to genuine caring for her well-being, she supposed). But Leia also perceived that many Imperial Officers wanted her; wanted her as a trophy wife. A living symbol of the Empire's final victory over the Rebellion by having one of it's most famous and passionate leaders as their own. And after spending some time getting to know him, Leia had decided that, as far as Imperial Officers went, Praxer was tolerable and that she was unlikely to do any better with anyone else. So it was that one day..._

 _"You seem awfully quiet, Leia." Praxer had said, by then quite comfortable with referring to her by her first name._

 _"I usually am." She said simply, which was true; since all of her fire and defiance had been beaten out of her she hadn't the will for much, nor much cause to talk, since she still hated the Empire and had no incentive to speak with any of them except to insult or defy them._

 _"But you wanted to speak with me?"_

 _Leia nodded. "I do. I..." She breathed in deeply and said: "Do you...care about me, Praxer?"_

 _He nodded. "I do, yes."_

 _"Then...will you marry me?"_

He'd said yes, and that had been that. Shortly after their marriage, Leia gave birth to, ironically, twins as her own mother had. She'd named them Bail and Mon after the late cofounders of the Rebel Alliance who had also been, in the case of the former, her foster father. She'd expected resistance from her Imperial admiral husband where such names were concerned, but he hadn't objected. They both knew that she would never leave Vjun and that their children would be brought up as good and loyal Imperials, so he was content to let her have her fun in naming them. Perhaps he even liked the irony of two future Imperials bearing the names of dead traitors.

Praxer kissed Leia, and she felt no emotion from it. Just as his continued caressing and other displays of physical intimacy and desire meant nothing to her. She allowed them and accepted them but she derived no pleasure from them. And that was because she tolerated the man they came from but didn't love him. He clearly enjoyed her, but the feeling was not mutual. She'd married him as a protection against any other, worse Imperials who also wanted her. But she also still hated the Empire, hated what they stood for, and would not love romantically a man who was so deeply entrenched in it.

She'd just lost the will to keep fighting. That was gone, snuffed out by years trapped on Vjun while the Rebellion died and the man she _really_ loved remained forever encased in carbonite and thus well beyond her reach. But the hate never died. What had happened to Alderaan alone ensured it never would.

Praxer kissed her on the lips again, and again Leia allowed it. He was clearly expecting her to kiss him back and show a bit more passion and interest in him, but she never did. He was always in there trying though. Had the circumstances been different she'd have maybe found it charming.

"It's getting late." Praxer noted. "I think we should both retire."

Leia nodded wordlessly, and allowed Praxer to take her hand and lift her up off the couch. Walking hand in hand, they disappeared into their private chambers.

 _Bespin_

For the coming battle, Luke had donned a black helmet visually similar to his father's own, the purpose of which to both conceal his identity and also to strike terror into the hearts of enemies. Facing him were rows upon rows of Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers loyal to Vader's Empire, identifiable by their blue armor markings that were a throwback to the 501st Legion's Clone Troopers. Beyond that their attire was the same as that of the Palpatine Loyalists.

"You know your orders." Luke said simply. "There will be no follow-up to this battle, men. Today we retake Bespin and drive off the Palpatine Loyalists from the planet, once and for all. No exceptions. Am I understood?"

All of the Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers gave salutes of acknowledgement. Satisfied with this, Luke waited for the gunship they were all in to arrive at Cloud City. It did so, the battle already underway. Using the Force, Luke telekinetically kept enemy TIEs and Cloud Cars away from his gunship, while also conjuring a Force Barrier around the gunship to provide it an additional layer of protection from enemy anti-air cannon shots that managed to hit it. As it is, no shot did. The pilot expertly landed the gunship onto one of the platforms, and no sooner was the ramp lowered did the troops swarm out, Luke following behind them. His lightsaber hilt came off his belt, and the familiar blade of green that he'd never changed the color of sprang to life once more.

Suffice to say that Luke's arrival got the attention of the Palpatine Loyalists. Some of them actually dropped their blasters and got down on their knees, hands raised. These ones were summarily shot by their fellows, unspoken contempt for their "treachery" filling the air. The rest merely opened fire, not giving a damn for their nonexistent odds; they were loyal to Emperor Palpatine to the death, and that meant to the death.

 _So be it._

With a wave of his hand, Luke telekinetically sent the column of Stormtroopers flying over the edge of the platform. He ignored their screams as they plummeted and vanished into the clouds. Moving faster than any eye could possibly follow, Luke went from one Stormtrooper to the next, removing helmeted heads from armored bodies or else leaving them in pieces. None could stop him.

An AT-ST tried to shoot at him, but the blast from it's cannons was useless against his Force Barrier. One Force Crush later and the AT-ST was reduced to a cube. A storm of Force Lightning followed this, hitting over a dozen Stormtroopers and turning them to ash, armor and all.

"Bring in the war droids! Throw everything we've got at him! Everything!" Hollered the officer in charge. Sure enough, lumbering war droids were unveiled, each one a Carbonite War Droid. They opened fire with their beams, but Luke moved to avoid every one of them.

"Commander, bring these droids down." Luke ordered in a deceptively calm voice, as though he were ordering dinner and with the vocabulator of his helmet flattening out the humanity in his voice. The Officer in charge nodded and ordered in the Shock Troopers, telling them to fire their rockets at the war droids as Luke pressed on, a shadowy blur brandishing a green one that left scores of dead Palpatine loyalists in it's wake. And with his men's rockets keeping the Carbonite War Droids off-balance, Luke found it easy to slice them to pieces or short-circuit them with Force Lightning.

It went on like this for a while longer; the Palpatine Loyalist's fates had been sealed the moment Darth Starkiller had set foot on Bespin and ignited his green lightsaber. His was a power unmatched by anyone in the Galaxy, even his own father, and they both knew it. He stayed loyal to Vader out of love for him. If Luke had had even the slightest interest in sitting on the Emperor's throne and was less sentimental, he'd have killed his father long ago.

But as it was, Luke was willing to fight to maintain Emperor Vader's hold on the galaxy. And that meant wiping out those who would not embrace the regime change. Like the ones on Bespin.

With their Sith champion carving a swath for them, the rest of the Imperial force overwhelmed the remaining defenders easily enough, killing them left and right and swarming all over Bespin's floating city. The entire city was theirs moments later.

A pair of Imperial Shuttles tried to escape Bespin's orbit, but they didn't get far, both being blown out of the sky by the Star Destroyers waiting in orbit that also destroyed the loyalist's Star Destroyer. Luke watched it all happen, sensing the deaths of the men on board the destroyed ships but not allowing it to affect him. Vader's law was all too blunt on the subject of those who would not pledge loyalty to him.

 _They will join us, or die._ His father had once told him. And he'd meant it.

 _Coruscant_

Lord Darth Vader sat in his throne on Coruscant, his mind in deep contemplation as it so often was, and also reaching out to sense the thoughts of those throughout the planet.

He sensed despair, of course. Despair because the Rebellion that had been the Galaxy's last hope of salvation from never-ending tyranny had failed. But with this despair was mingled patriotism, for many on Coruscant had been and remained, quite loyal to the Empire. And among the non-humans still on Coruscant, there was reason for optimism; the new iteration of the Empire had opened it's doors to nonhumans the Galaxy over, aliens no longer being cursed to reside at the lowest levels of galactic society. Now they had a true, legitimate place in the Empire.

As far as Palpatine had been concerned human supremacist attitudes had their uses, but Vader for one had never seen the point. Some of his new Royal Guards even were aliens, chief among them the Nohgri who had served him faithfully for years.

And yet...

There was something else, when the Dark Lord probed the Galaxy with his mind. Something elusive that he couldn't quite identify, but knew was out there. Something that tugged at the back of his mind, gnawing at him even in his great triumph over his hated former master and the Rebellion and the Galaxy as a whole. Something...

 _An image flashed before his mind's eye. An image of himself._

Vader shifted in his throne. What was this? A premonition? A vision?

 _He saw himself pick up the Emperor, and heave with all his might, tossing the tyrant to his doom._

Darth Vader sat up fully and leaned forward as he saw this in his mind. _What? No...that...that is not how my former master died. Luke killed him..._

 _Another image flashed before him. That of Luke dragging him along as all around them Imperial men ran back and forth, clearly in a panic. Wherever they were shook violently, and Vader was missing his saber hand._

Darth Vader shook his head. Impossible. That hadn't happened either. Why was he seeing these things? Was the Force trying to tell him something? As a man who had been immersed in the Dark Side for so long, Vader ignored the voice of the Light Side when it came, but the Force had a neutral middle ground to it as well, and when it spoke to you, and warned you, it was a warning any Force user with sense would at least acknowledge, if not necessarily obey slavishly.

But what message was the Force trying to send to him, if any, with these glimpses of events that had never occurred? Vader could guess at the answer, but even though it was an obvious one, it still didn't seem quite right to him.

Two of his red robed bodyguards shuffled in and bowed. "My Lord, your son has returned." One of them said. Darth Vader nodded at this. He did not like unwanted intrusions, but made an exception for urgent news and anything relating to his son.

"Good. Show him in when he arrives. I wish to speak with him."

"As you wish, Lord Vader." The two bodyguards then got up and left. As they did, Darth Vader thought back to the images he had seen. One of the Emperor dying by his hand (not a notion Vader minded at all), and another of him being helped along by his son in the middle of what appeared to be a major loss for the Empire (that one he _did_ mind). But taken together what did they mean? Somehow, Vader knew the two were part of the same "story"; a sequence of visions of events having gone differently than they actually did some years ago.

Then, without warning, a third one:

 _He was without his helmet now, exposing his bald, pale, scarred head. He was on his back, unable to move, mortally wounded. Luke stood over him. But despite it all, he did not seem unhappy. Instead, he seemed...at peace._

 _"You were right about me. Tell your sister...you were right..."_

"Leia..." Darth Vader whispered, thinking then to his daughter, the one he had consigned to permanent exile on Vjun. He had declined to execute her for fear of making her a martyr...or so he told himself. Was that _really_ why he hadn't killed her? Why he'd permitted her to live for a standard decade now? And also treated without brutality...for the most part.

 _"You were right about me..."_

Right about what? What had Luke been right about? This then was something Vader did not understand. And as Luke drew closer to him, Vader could sense that he too was uneasy about something. He too had inner turmoil inside him.

Sure enough, the doors opened and in Luke came. He bowed before Vader.

"Bespin has been retaken, father. The Palpatine Loyalists on the planet have been crushed."

"Good, my son." Darth Vader said with a nod of approval. "That is one last pocket of resistance crushed. One less Imperial Warlord eliminated."

"Yes, father." Luke replied. His helmet had been removed now, so that his father could see his face. A luxury that Darth Vader himself could not indulge in.

And yet he'd been unmasked in the vision...

"I sense unease within you, father..."

Darth Vader nodded and got up from his throne. He descended the steps and made his way to Luke until he was right in front of him. "You sense something?"

Luke nodded. "I do, yes. I've been sensing it for a while now, actually. And ever since I came back from Bespin, it's...it's felt stronger. Why?"

"Perhaps..." Vader said slowly, almost meditatively. "...the answers lie there?"

"You wish me to return to Bespin?"

"Not alone, no. _I_ shall accompany you. We shall discover the answers to this mystery the Force has given us, together."

"Yes, father." Luke said. So it was that the two Sith Lords took a black and silver variant of the _Lambda-_ class T-4a shuttles that had once carried Emperor Palpatine to Bespin, their Royal Guards accompanying them all the way. It touched down on Cloud City, and when the ramp lowered, Vader and Luke exited.

"Leave us." Vader commanded, and the Royal Guards nodded in obedience, remaining on the shuttle to keep watch over it and prepare for it's eventual takeoff. Making their way through the now mostly deserted streets of Cloud City brought back memories for Luke. Memories of a standard decade ago, and of friends long gone.

 _"Luke! It's a trap!" Leia had yelled, before she was dragged away. But that sight and Han also being in danger had been such perfect bait that even when Luke had had the warning spelled out to him by his own sister he had run recklessly into it. How different had things been if he'd just listened?_

Cloud City hadn't benefitted from the turn of galactic events since; it's population had mostly fled during those same fateful events from a standard decade ago, and no one had ever seen it's administrator Lando Calrissian again. There had been rumors of course; stories of a man who matched his description in the Outer Rim gambling away what money he had or else trying to find the lost friend he'd betrayed, while other stories went of how the bounty hunter Boba Fett had added another name to the long list of men and women who had gotten on his radar, to their regret. Among the Imperial hierarchy, there was no time for such galactic gossip on people the Empire didn't care about at all, but Luke for one had wondered. Just as he often wondered what had happened to Chewbacca, who had also seemingly disappeared. Was he dead? Toiling away as a slave for the Empire? Alive and still out there somewhere? Luke didn't know. Privately though, he hoped it was the last one.

And also that he'd never see the Wookie again, because he knew if he did he'd have to kill him.

The two dark figures strode through hallways of the city's interior, before ultimately coming to an eerily familiar sight:

"The Carbon Freezing Chamber where we dueled." Luke observed.

"Indeed." Vader said. "But this is not where I want to take you."

Luke nodded his understanding, and continued following his father. They made their way through the areas where they had once dueled, and for Luke it was a surreal experience, walking through it alongside the very man he had once been in a life-or-death struggle against in the very same places. Eventually, that surreal walk came to an end. At a long, narrow, metal platform surrounded on all sides by ominous metal walls, and with a hissing wind blowing all around them.

This then, was the maintenance catwalk, overlooking the air shaft where, a standard decade ago, Luke had first learned the truth about his heritage, and had chosen to join his father. The choice that had, in effect, set into motion everything that had happened since.

And it was here, that Luke sensed the disturbance in the Force most prominently. His father could too.

"Yes, my son. This is where we shall have our answers."

Luke nodded, and shut his eyes. He thought back to that distant time, when he'd still been on the Light Side. When he'd still believed that Darth Vader had been his father's killer.

 _Luke clung desperately to the vane with his remaining hand, beneath him darkness. In front of him, his dark father with black gloved hand outstretched._

 _"Luke...you do not yet realize your importance. You've only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training! With our combined strength, we can **end** this destructive conflict, and bring **order** to the Galaxy!"_

 _"I'll **never** join you!"_

 _"If you only knew the power of the Dark Side!" A pause. Then, "Obi-Wan, never told you what happened to your father..."_

 _"He told me enough! He told me **you** killed him!"_

 _"No... **I** am your father."_

 _"No...that's not true...that's impossible!"_

 _"Search your feelings, you **know** it be true!"_

 _" **Noooo!** "_

 _"Luke...you can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. Join me, and together, we can rule the Galaxy as father and son!"_

 _A drop into the abyss of one kind or the other was the choice presented before him._

 _"Come with me...it is the only way."_

 _This was it. This was the moment where Luke would once and for all make his choice. The choice that would determine the fate of the Galaxy for better and for worse. And it was when he would choose to go with his father, and begin the ascension of a new order that would cast down the Emperor's..._

 _...except instead, Luke let go of the pole, and plummeted into the literal abyss rather than embracing the figurative one._

Luke opened his eyes at that last bit. He looked around. The foreboding catwalk and air shaft were still there, the same as they had always been. This place where time seemed to stand still, as though nothing else existed besides this place, and the critical moment it represented to the two men within it.

"You saw it too, didn't you, Luke?"

Luke turned to his father and nodded. "Yes. I saw myself jump off. And fall..." He looked hard at Vader "I think I understand now...I think maybe I've always understood, deep down...this isn't how it's supposed to be, is it?"

Darth Vader shook his helmeted head. "No, my son. It is not."

"Then...how do we set it right? Make it the way it's...it's _supposed_ to be...?"

Darth Vader instinctively turned his gaze to the pole Luke had clutched desperately once, and the air shaft it overlooked. He said nothing. He didn't need to. All at once, Luke understood what needed to be done. What needed to be done to set things right. _Truly_ right, not the tyranny that still had the Galaxy in a stranglehold. For so long Luke and his father had convinced themselves that this was what they wanted. But now they both understood that there was a better path.

Breathing in deeply, Luke shut his eyes once more, walked over to the place he'd been cornered to a standard decade ago, and turned to see his father one last time.

"Goodbye, father."

And then Luke jumped off.

He fell, eyes shut and all the while without fear, and as he did he found himself becoming assailed with new images, new memories;

 _Palpatine plummeting to his doom._

 _Soldiers of the Rebellion fighting heroically and victoriously on worlds throughout the Galaxy._

 _X-Wings and other Rebel ships soaring triumphantly in space._

 _Coruscant being liberated from Imperial rule once and for all._

 _Himself standing in front of the ruins of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, determined to rebuild what had been destroyed there._

 _And himself with his three dearest friends at his side; his sister, Han, and Chewbacca. All together again..._

And then Luke opened his eyes, and he was himself again. Once again standing on Coruscant and overlooking a sunset. But this time there were no Imperial Star Destroyers or TIE Fighters in the sky. And he no longer felt darkness all around him.

"Is something wrong, my love?"

Luke turned to see Mara there, smiling at him. He smiled back.

"Yes...yes, I think everything is alright, Mara. I think everything is finally as it should be."


End file.
